Construction on seven Anchor Centres will begin today in the German state of Bavaria to facilitate asylum applications more efficiently.

Photo: Reuters/Michele Tantussi

Construction on seven Anchor Centres will begin today in the German state of Bavaria to facilitate asylum applications more efficiently. Asylum seekers inside the Anchor Centres will not be allowed to leave, work or attend school.

These centres form part of Germany’s toughening stance on refugees. In order to form government, German Chancellor Angela Merkel agreed to limit the asylum seeker intake to 200,000 per year—down from 890,000 in 2015 and 280,000 in 2016. In response to 500,000 unsuccessful applicants remaining in Germany in 2017, the Anchor Centres will focus on deporting migrants quickly.

In a policy reversal, Chancellor Merkel also recently negotiated an agreement enabling Germany to return asylum seekers to 14 other European Union countries if they originally registered there.

Expect Germany’s tougher refugee stance to lead to other European Union nations tightening their borders. This may also lead to restrictions on the borderless travel underlying trade between European Union members.

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